Skyscraper Mountain to Independence Mine Traverse

 I really worried that I would be too tired for this hike today. But to my surprise, I felt amazing and practically ran up the first 1/2 mile steep pitch to the top of the Ridge of Skyscraper Mountain. I was mostly focused on keeping my dog in sight, who was acting like the lead dog and making sure she was far ahead of everyone in our group. Once on the actual ridge, we had amazing views of both sides of Hatcher Pass. Skyscraper Ridge divides the Palmer side from the Willow side. I could look to my left and see almost the entire path of the marathon I ran on Saturday. To the right I could see all of Independence Mine State Park. I have hiked this trail once a couple of years ago, but turned back once I came to huge rock boulders, with no clear path that might lead down to the mine itself. Our destination was the upper parking lot of Independence Mine so we had staged several cars there and shuttled everyone to the trailhead up by Summit Lake. The first section of the ridge is a gentle up and down trail right along the ridge top. But then it becomes giant rock pinnacles with questionable pathways around them. There were 3 people in our group who had hiked the traverse before, so we relied heavily on their advice to find the best route. It really is more of a route than an actual trail. Although in places there are remnants of old mining trails. I mostly left Bella off her leash so she would not tend to make war with the 3 other dogs in our party. But sometimes we encountered very large boulders and I was forced to lift her over them. Before climbing up to a high rocky peak, we began our descent towards the mine buildings below. It involved some serious boulder hopping, scree traversing, and a trail across an enormous boulder field that was marked with only an occasional piece of orange flagging. Once past the boulders we finally did discover an actual well defined trail and followed it until it sort of disappeared into soft tundra. We found ruins of a large mine building, and tracks plus lots of metal debris left over from the old mine. We lost the trail and just went cross country across the green tundra vegetation, hopped a small stream and eventually come to the paved hiking trail that winds through the Independence Mine State Park. Our group of 10 had separated and I was part of the lead group of 5, plus only the one dog, Bella. We waited for a while for the others once we got back to the cars. It took an hour for the last of the group to join us. The last group were able to fit in one car and they drove back to the trailhead to retrieve the cars that were left there. This was a very enjoyable hike, partly because of the warm bright sunshine and delightful, breeze, and the beautiful scenery, but also because I was feeling strong and not sore at all from the marathon. That was such a pleasant surprise. I really worried that I would need to turn back, but I felt great the whole way. I've wanted to do that traverse for a long time but didn't know how to find the correct route. I'm happy to check it off my must do list.